Thursday, November 15, 2007
Reaction to Vollmer's 'Reading the Water"
It is ingenius the way in which Vollmer uses layering to project meaning---not only with sound but as well with text. The beginning dialogue imposes all three male Vollmers although they are not all in the shot. It seems as though there is a constant stream of these three subjects being present in some way. Although it appears firstly that Niklas has taken it upon himself to show his young son Tannus the coastline of Maine---I think in reality his true intentions are to relive his own cildhood and carry on a dialogue with his aging father. It is interesting that while Vollmer senior is partaking in what he knows best being an ecologist/biologist---Niklas VOllmer is in the role of his profession as cinematographer shows them with this sort of barrier of professionalism. While the young son creates a playful layer does Niklas Vollmer use his son's presence in the film as a way in which to communicate with his own father on a more intimate layer as well with text 'where are you going daddy?' "are you okay?" "don't leave" etc. The shots of water itself algae covered---opaque/rippling behind a motorboat, transparent in a calm marsh.....what sorts of connotations do these shots hold? Has the study of this coastline created an ecology between these three generations?
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I like the idea of a layered representation of the three subjects, as they are always present on some layer. After having class with Niklas I think his intentions were to shoot his dad as the subject and his son as a secondary subject. In the first part of the film it's almost as his son's segments are like a representation of himself in an analysis of him and his father's relationship. In reference to your question about the ecology between the three generations, I think that the coastline is solely a place of comfort of for his father and the filmmaker has found a way to represent his relationships through that.
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